Pringle of Scotland

Pringle is most associated with argyles, but for Spring, designer Massimo Nicosia opted to riff on another of Scotland's storied motifs: tartan. "My point was to investigate all the ways possible to translate tartan to our favorite knitwear," he said at his presentation, repatriated from Milan to Pringle's native (well, neighboring) London. The tartan theme played into the women's Resort collection, too, suggesting that Nicosia is striving to unify the entire house more than his predecessor did. He's also pushing it in a less aggressively fashion-forward direction. He played throughout with the technical possibilities of knitting, weaving, and construction, creating tartans in two and three dimensions, from narrow rows of pleating to jacquard, then mixing and matching them. There were fine pieces throughout, like a tartan mackintosh with an elasticized parka belt and clever kilt-buckle monk straps. It had quiet confidence but less flash than previously. The developing Pringle, in its latest iteration, seems to be more about pieces than looks, and more about technique than trend.